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Crypto trading volumes and dwindling digital asset prices are flashing signs of trader exhaustion and potentially weaker market momentum, according to analysts. Crypto-wide trading volume has been dropping since it peaked in February amid dip-buying opportunities. According to CoinGecko data, daily trading volume hit its highest level this year in early February when it reached $440 billion. It has since sunk by 63% to $163 billion on March 12. Market data firm CoinMarketCap has slightly lower figures but they show the same trend — that volume peaked in 2025 in early March before falling back 52% to current levels.  Analytics firm Santiment said on X on March 13 that this decline in volume suggests that trader enthusiasm for the asset class is diminishing.“When trading volume for major cryptocurrencies consistently drops, even during slight price recoveries, it typically points toward diminishing trader enthusiasm.”Santiment added that trader behavior “indicates a mix of exhaustion, hopelessness, and capitulation” following further market capitalization declines over the past fortnight. Declining crypto trading volume. Source: SantimentTotal market capitalization has declined almost 25% since the beginning of February, shrinking by $900 billion as the crypto market correction deepens. Those declines have accelerated over the past 10 days when markets have lost 15% as fears of a recession in the United States increased amid escalating global trade tensions.Santiment stated that traders are becoming cautious, suggesting they might not believe that the current upward price movements will last. “Essentially, reduced trading activity reflects uncertainty, as fewer traders are convinced that buying at current levels will yield profitable outcomes,” the analysts added.Weakening trading volume amid minor price bounces can serve as an “early warning sign of weakening market momentum,” Santiment reported, adding that without robust buying participation, price gains can quickly lose steam, “as there simply isn’t enough underlying support to sustain the upward trend.”“This leads to the possibility that any rebound could be temporary, with prices vulnerable to another downturn.”Related: Bitcoin high-entry buyers are driving sell pressure, price may ‘floor’ at $70KHowever, shrinking volume during minor rebounds isn’t necessarily a direct bearish signal, it said, adding that volume is a metric that measures participation from both retail and institutional traders and it needs to start rising before prices do. “To signal a healthier and more sustainable recovery, bulls generally will want to see both rising prices and rising volumes simultaneously.”Crypto market capitalization is currently around $2.8 trillion, which is where it was this time last year before seven months of consolidation followed. Meanwhile, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index remains in “fear” territory, below 50, where it has been since Feb. 21. Magazine: Mystery celeb memecoin scam factory, HK firm dumps Bitcoin: Asia Express

A crypto trader fell victim to a sandwich attack while making a $220,764 stablecoin transfer on March 12 — losing almost 98% of its value to a Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) bot.$220,764 worth of the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin was swapped to $5,271 of Tether (USDT) in eight seconds as the MEV bot successfully front-ran the transaction, banking over $215,500.Data from Ethereum block explorer shows the MEV attack occurred on decentralized exchange Uniswap v3’s USDC-USDT liquidity pool, where $19.8 million worth of value is locked.Details of the sandwich attack transaction. Source: EtherscanThe MEV bot front-ran the transaction by swapping all the USDC liquidity out of the Uniswap v3 USDC-USDT pool and then put it back in after the transaction was executed, according to founder of The DeFi Report Michael Nadeau.The attacker tipped Ethereum block builder “bob-the-builder.eth” $200,000 from the $220,764 swap and profited $8,000 themselves, Nadeau said.DeFi researcher “DeFiac” speculates the same trader using different wallets has fallen victim to a total of six sandwich attacks, citing “internal tools.” They pointed out that all funds traveled from borrowing and lending protocol Aave before being deposited on Uniswap.Two of the wallets fell victim to an MEV bot sandwich attack on March 12 at around 9:00 am UTC. Ethereum wallet addresses “0xDDe…42a6D” and “0x999…1D215” were sandwich attacked for $138,838 and $128,003 in transactions that occurred three to four minutes earlier.Both transactors made the same swap in the Uniswap v3 liquidity pool as the trader who made the $220,762 transfer. Others speculate the trades could be attempts at money laundering.“If you have NK illicit funds you could construct a very mev-able tx, then privately send it to a mev bot and have them arb it in a bundle,” said founder of crypto data dashboard DefiLlama, 0xngmi.“That way you wash all the money with close to 0 losses.” Related: THORChain at crossroads: Decentralization clashes with illicit activityWhile initially criticizing Uniswap, Nadeau later acknowledged that the transactions didn’t come from Uniswap’s front end, which has MEV protection and default slippage settings.Nadeau backtracked on those criticisms after Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams and others clarified the protections Uniswap has in place to fight against sandwich attacks.Source: Hayden AdamsMagazine: Crypto fans are obsessed with longevity and biohacking: Here’s why

The latest US core Consumer Price Index (CPI) print, a measure of inflation, came in lower than expected at 3.1%, beating expectations of 3.2%, with a corresponding 0.1% drop in headline inflation figures.According to Matt Mena, crypto research strategist at 21Shares, the cooling inflation data adds to the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year, injecting much-needed liquidity into the markets and sending risk-on asset prices higher. Mena added:“Rate cut expectations have surged in response — markets now price a 31.4% chance of a cut in May, up over 3x from last month, while expectations for three cuts by year-end have jumped over 5x to 32.5%, and four cuts have skyrocketed from just 1% to 21%.”Despite the better-than-expected inflation numbers, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) declined from over $84,000 at the daily open to now sit around $83,000 as traders grapple with US President Donald Trump’s trade war and macroeconomic uncertainty.A majority of market participants believe the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by June 2025. Source: CME GroupRelated: Bitcoin’s ‘Trump trade’ is over — Traders shift hope to Fed rate cuts, expanding global liquidityIs President Trump crashing markets to force rate cuts?Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on several occasions that the central bank is not rushing to cut interest rates — a view echoed by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller.During a Feb. 17 speech at the University of New South Wales in Syndey, Australia, Waller said the bank should pause interest rate cuts until inflation comes down.These comments were met with concern from market analysts, who say that a lack of rate cuts might trigger a bear market and send asset prices plummeting.On March 10, market analyst and investor Anthony Pompliano speculated that President Trump was intentionally crashing financial markets to force the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.The US government has approximately $9.2 trillion in debt that will mature in 2025 unless refinanced. Source: The Kobeissi LetterAccording to The Kobeissi Letter, the US government needs to refinance roughly $9.2 trillion in debt before it reaches maturity in 2025.Failure to refinance this debt at lower interest rates will drive up the national debt, which is currently over $36 trillion, and cause the interest payments on the debt to balloon.Due to these reasons, President Trump has made interest rate cuts a top priority for his administration — even at the short-term expense of asset markets and business.Magazine Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle

Today, in crypto, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly preparing to drop its case against Ripple, while a reintroduced bill in Congress seeks to authorize the US government to purchase 1 million Bitcoin. Meanwhile, the European Union’s retaliatory tariffs have deepened macroeconomic uncertainty, prompting analysts to forecast increased volatility for BTC prices. SEC’s enforcement case against Ripple may be wrapping upThe US Securities and Exchange Commission may be preparing to end its enforcement action against Ripple Labs after more than four years.According to a March 12 X post from Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, the SEC’s case against Ripple was “in the process of wrapping up” after the parties filed an appeal and cross-appeal, respectively, over a $125-million court judgment in August 2024. The civil case against the blockchain firm filed in December 2020 alleged Ripple and certain executives used XRP (XRP) as an unregistered security to raise funds.Ripple chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty told Cointelegraph on March 11 that the SEC civil case was “far more advanced” than many of the others the regulator had dropped following the inauguration of US President Donald Trump and the departure of Chair Gary Gensler. Since January, the SEC has announced it will not pursue enforcement cases against Coinbase, Consensys, Kraken and others.“We do have a judgment, we are on appeal — that presents some additional complexity,” said Alderoty in regard to the case potentially being dropped. “But we remain optimistic that we’ll get to a resolution with the SEC, and if we don’t, we’ll proceed with the appeal.”According to the Ripple CLO, there were several possible outcomes to ending the SEC case if both parties were in agreement that it should wind down. EU retaliatory tariffs threaten Bitcoin correction to $75,000The EU’s latest retaliatory tariffs have deepened macroeconomic uncertainty, prompting crypto analysts to forecast increased volatility for Bitcoin (BTC) prices, which may drop below the critical $75,000 support level.The EU will impose counter-tariffs on 26 billion euros ($28 billion) worth of US goods starting in April, the European Commission announced on March 12, responding to US President Donald Trump’s recent move to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.This move is the latest retaliatory tariff announcement in response to US import tariffs, which may trigger renewed trade war concerns and market volatility in the near term.Announcement of retaliatory tariffs on the US. Source: European Commission“Counter tariffs aren’t a positive signal as they suggest a potential bounce back from the other side again,” according to Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder and chief operating officer of blockchain oracle solution firm, RedStone.This may see Bitcoin revisit $75,000, he told Cointelegraph, adding that “given stablecoins and RWAs [real world assets] remain at all-time-highs, it has the potential to rebound.”“I don’t believe that news will have a strong impact for now, but we’ll observe the response on the US end,” he added.Related: Bitcoin reserve backlash signals unrealistic industry expectationsOther analysts still eye a temporary Bitcoin retracement below $72,000 as part of a “macro correction” during the current bull market cycle before Bitcoin’s next leg up.Still, import tariffs are not the only factor influencing Bitcoin’s price, Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research, told Cointelegraph, adding:“The prices are correlated with wider economic conditions but are also influenced by factors beyond trade policies. Worldwide institutional adoption, regulatory updates and high utility make it more resilient than traditional financial instruments.”Lummis’ revamped BITCOIN Act wants US reserve to buy 1 million BTCUS Senator Cynthia Lummis’ reintroduced her BITCOIN Act on March 11 to allow the government to potentially hold more than 1 million Bitcoin in its newly established reserve.The bill, the Boosting Innovation, Technology, and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide (BITCOIN) Act of 2025, was first introduced in a different form in July and would’ve seen the US buy 1 million BTC, split across buys of 200,000 BTC a year for five years.The revamped bill opens the door for the US to acquire and hold in excess of 1 million BTC as long as it is acquired through lawful means other than direct purchase, such as civil or criminal forfeitures, gifts made to the US or transfers from federal agencies.Proud to re-introduce the BITCOIN Act. Let’s secure America’s financial future.pic.twitter.com/jJFmMopP7h— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) March 11, 2025The refreshed bill also now sets a formal evaluation process for Bitcoin forked assets and airdropped assets in the reserve and directs the Secretary after the mandatory holding period to evaluate and retain the most valuable asset based on market capitalization while retaining the “dominant asset.”US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” and a “Digital Asset Stockpile,” both of which will initially use crypto forfeited to the government.

Video-sharing platform Rumble says it had purchased more than $17 million worth of Bitcoin as part of a previously announced investment strategy.In a March 12 notice, Rumble said it had added 188 Bitcoin (BTC) to its treasury for roughly $17.1 million. The investment, suggested by CEO Chris Pavlovski in November following Donald Trump winning the US presidential election, was touted as a hedge against inflation and part of a broader move to deepen ties to the crypto industry.The platform hinted it could make additional Bitcoin purchases depending on market factors. Though Rumble did not specifically mention Trump or his attempts to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve and crypto stockpile at the federal level, Pavlovski’s social media posts suggested strong support for the US president’s policies. Rumble’s cloud currently hosts Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social — the president’s primary method for public communications — and entered into an agreement with El Salvador’s government in January to provide services. Cointelegraph reached out to Rumble for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.Related: Tether pours $775M into video-sharing platform RumbleWith Bitcoin on its balance sheet, Rumble joins a list of companies that have invested in crypto following the November election, including AI firm Genius Group and software company Semler Scientific. The share price of Rumble stock has fallen roughly 34% since Jan. 1. US government could soon hodl BitcoinSince Jan. 20, the Trump administration has deepened ties between the US government and the crypto industry through executive action and policies. The US Securities and Exchange Commission, one of the biggest financial regulators in the country, announced it would be dropping investigations and enforcement actions against many crypto firms over allegations of unregistered securities offerings. Trump also hosted many crypto executives and CEOs at the White House on March 7 as part of a summit to discuss a proposed national Bitcoin reserve and crypto stockpile.Trump’s proposed Bitcoin reserve — which could be codified into law if Congress moves forward with legislation — could see all BTC seized by US authorities HODLed rather than sold at auction. It’s unclear how this action may affect the price of the cryptocurrency.Magazine: Bitcoin’s odds of June highs, SOL’s $485M outflows, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 2 – 8